Dinah Shore & George Montgomery
The kid didn’t know. . . . He stood on the sidewalk and gave her his biggest, broadest smile. She looked at him through the car window as she waited for the light to change. She knew he’d do it. All the kids did.
“But not this time,” she begged silently. “Please, little boy, not this minute, this instant. Don’t.”
But he did it. He didn’t know.
“Dinah! Dinah!” he shouted in his clear, shrill sandlot voice. “Throw me a kiss, Dinah. Go mmmmm-wahhhh, Dinah!”
He slapped the bundle of newspapers under his arm in glee. His small fingers landed smack on the black headline: “Dinah Shore Divorce Shocks Hollywood.”
Because she knew the kid didn’t understand, Dinah threw him his kiss. It wasn’t easy.
And as the light turned green for go, she knew that it would never again be easy to throw that special, smiling kind of kiss. Not after all the ugly talk.
No one stayed married in Hollywood without suffering the whole routine. It took eighteen years for it to get to the Dinah Shore-George Montgomery marriage. But it got there. And there came a day when the situation had to be explained to the children. And then Dinah watched quietly as her husband picked up his bags and walked out of their house.
Hours later, a spokesman for Dinah announced:
“Dinah Shore and George Montgomery have separated. Attorneys are arranging the divorce, for which Mrs. Montgomery will file. . . .”
Most of those close to Dinah tell one and the same story. “It was the Ziva Rodann rumors that really hurt Dinah,” they say. “George was seven thousand miles away. He had neglected to call her as he’d promised, and Dinah cried like a baby. She was dying to hear his voice. Instead, she heard that he’d been traveling with Ziva from the Philippines to Hong Kong to Tokyo, and that an Italian prince had challenged George to a duel over Ziva.
“Once those things made the papers, everybody got going on the marriage. Dinah took it as long as she could. When George came home, they had it out.”
So went the talk—then and now—about Ziva, George’s lushly beautiful leading lady on that far-off safari, and about another beauty nearer to home, Diane McBain. But what few knew was that right up to the bitter end, Dinah wouldn’t listen to any of it. She still insists that what tore down a good marriage after eighteen years was “being apart so long and so often.” The gossip couldn’t do it—not with all their marriage had.
Of all the reasons Dinah poured out her love on George, there was one so tender that her eyes could well with tears at the mere thought. It was what George had done for a girl who never permitted herself to believe in her own glamour.
“I have a big mouth,” she always said, “too big to be that beautiful.”
In 1943, at a time when she was painfully accepting a tough truth—that she just wasn’t a movie beauty—Dinah met George and fell in love with him.
George saw something in Dinah, too—a radiance that put her heart, head and shoulders above the slinkiest glamour girls. She glowed with love for people, kids, animals, flowers—the whole world! She faced every day as a joyful challenge to “do the best with what I’ve got.” She vibrated with a determination to find happiness (“I don’t know where or when, but I’ll find it.”)
Now, like a star unnoticed before, she burned all the brighter. Her smile became irresistible. “There’s something about that girl,” men said. She did something to a song that made them listen. Women liked her, too. In short, the unquenchable Dinah had turned her small-time failure as an actress into an incredible success—success as a singer and, above all, a woman.
She said, “I’d never have made it without George.”
And what had George done to make it possible? The simplest, yet the only thing in the world a man can do for a woman: He told her she was beautiful! That he loved her. And he meant it. He brought her a happiness and joy that she never dreamed was possible.
From that moment on, Dinah the star became Dinah the comet. She soared in a great bright light as a singer on radio. Then in the Fifties she switched to television and starred in a weekly program rarely matched for popularity. Millions knew her face and girlish figure, raved about her glamorous gowns. The kiss she flung happily to the world at the end of each show became the flingingest sign-off in show business.
Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, husband George was trying to make his way. Compared to total obscurity, it might seem he had made it, if not big. He was an actor. He starred in no epic, received no Academy nominations, but he worked. And he reared two beautiful children with Dinah. In general, he came off as a quiet, efficient he-man, but not one to stand the world on its ear. It might have been enough. But he could no longer take being “Dinah’s husband.”
“He fought it all the way,” says a friend. “Believe me, it happened so gradually that neither of them knew—until it was too late. But I guess one morning he woke up and faced the awful truth: that if something didn’t happen, he’d be known the rest of his life only as the husband of Dinah Shore.”
George broke out in a fever of ambition to retain his identity. He put his head, heart and soul into his television series, “Cimmaron.” It died young.
He tried an offbeat jungle movie, “Watusi.” It didn’t do badly, but not great.
This year he traveled to the Philippines to make another off-beat movie on location. That’s when the marriage ran into the rough. Long separation from his wife, a simmering resentment of his role as “Dinah’s husband,” low spirits, and the ever-hovering cloud of failure began to wear him down.
If it wasn’t so sad, it might have been funny . . . George alone and unhappy in the Philippine jungle . . . Dinah alone and unhappy in her TV jungle of vine-like cables and cardboard trees. It might have gone on that way if not for the Ziva Rodann stories in the newspapers. But when George came home, when he and Dinah talked it out, the real truth emerged between them—that their marriage was suffering fatally from career separations. So they announced a divorce, not a trial parting. They knew it was over.
When Ziva Rodann found herself swept up in the muddy river of gossip, she did her best to swim away from it. “We are only good friends,” she said. “Anything more is foolish talk.” . . . One Hollywood insider echoed. “Ziva Rodann? But I understood that George was interested in Diane McBain.” And another echoed, “Diane McBain? I thought it was Madlyn Rhue.”
But at the time of this writing, Ziva’s friends—ac- cording to columnist Earl Wilson—were whispering that George had invited the “Israeli Brigitte Bardot” to Las Vegas for the New Year’s celebrations, and she had accepted. And, said the item, “anything could happen in that marrying town. (George and Dinah are expected to get a Mexican divorce.)”
It isn’t easy for people to accept the statement that something so simple as career trouble can break up a good marriage after eighteen years and two children. False rumors have flourished wildly and died. They even tried to link Dinah with another man.
“No matter what happens,” Dinah used to say, “when the spotlights are gone, when the applause has died down, I’ll have my home, husband and children.” Dinah still has her children. She still has her home, all $500,000 worth of it, although there isn’t any man around it—the man who was so nice to come home to.
And in a room of that house there’s a plaque. It’s a Gallup poll citation. It States simply that according to their poll, “Dinah Shore is one of the ten most admired women in the world.”
But as any one of Dinah’s sisters-under-the-skin could tell you: She’d trade every vote for the love of just one man—George Montgomery.
THE END
It is a quote. PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE MARCH 1962
welcome
25 Mart 2023Thіs design is steller! You certainly know how to keep a reader amused.
Betԝeen your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to stаrt my own bⅼog (well, almost…HaHa!) Ԍreat job. I гeally enjoyed wһat you haɗ to say, and more than that, how yоu presented it.
Too cool!
zoritoler imol
23 Nisan 2023Hey! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I genuinely enjoy reading your blog posts. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same topics? Thank you so much!
vorbelutr ioperbir
17 Temmuz 2023Unquestionably consider that that you stated. Your favorite reason seemed to be at the net the simplest thing to have in mind of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed at the same time as folks consider worries that they just do not know about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the entire thing with no need side-effects , other people can take a signal. Will probably be again to get more. Thank you
Zappulla
7 Ağustos 2023Hey, thanks for the post.Thanks Again. Great.
hannah
15 Ağustos 2023There’s certainly a great deal to know about this topic. I like all of the points you have made.
Hoch
15 Ağustos 2023Great, thanks for sharing this article post.Really looking forward to read more. Great.
Kessner
16 Ağustos 2023Fantastic article post.Much thanks again. Cool.
sidney
16 Ağustos 2023I needed to thank you for this fantastic read!! I definitely loved every bit of it. I have you bookmarked to look at new stuff you post
Vanlinden
16 Ağustos 2023wow, awesome blog article.Much thanks again. Really Cool.
Senna
16 Ağustos 2023Thank you for your blog. Keep writing.
Stathis
17 Ağustos 2023I truly appreciate this blog post. Cool.
Tilly
17 Ağustos 2023Im grateful for the blog.Really looking forward to read more. Really Cool.
Magitt
18 Ağustos 2023Thanks for the blog article. Thanks Again. Fantastic.
Rombach
19 Ağustos 2023Im thankful for the article post. Thanks Again. Awesome.
Butron
20 Ağustos 2023I really like and appreciate your blog post.Thanks Again. Much obliged.
cristalyn
20 Ağustos 2023Wow, great blog post.Really thank you! Great.
Jocelyn
21 Ağustos 2023Hi, this weekend is good in support of me,because this occasion i am reading this great informative paragraph here at my residence.
daris
21 Ağustos 2023Hey! Thiis is my first comnent here so I justwanted to give a quick shout out and say I truly enjoy reading through your articles.Appreciate it!
brett
22 Ağustos 2023WOW just what I was searching for. Came here by searching for is
nelson
22 Ağustos 2023It’s enormous that you are getting ideas from this article as well as from our discussion made at this place.
bernadine
24 Ağustos 2023Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very well written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and return to read more ofyour useful info. Thanks for the post. I will certainly return.
burdine
24 Ağustos 2023Currently it seems like Movable Type is the best blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
lawson
24 Ağustos 2023Everyone loves what you guys tend to be up too. Such clever work and exposure!Keep up the terrific works guys I’ve incorporated you guysto my blogroll.
Bestine
27 Ağustos 2023Looking forward to reading more. Great blog article.Thanks Again. Great.
jemma
28 Ağustos 2023Thanks for this excellent. I was wondering whether you were planning of writing similar posts to this one. .Keep up the excellent articles!
Huskinson
28 Ağustos 2023Thank you for your article post.Really looking forward to read more. Will read on…
mort
28 Ağustos 2023fantastic issues altogether, you simply gained a emblem new reader.What could you recommend in regards to your submit that you simply made a fewdays in the past? Any certain?
pippa
29 Ağustos 2023Thanks a lot! I appreciate this.writing a perfect essay colleges essays custom coursework writing
Melser
3 Eylül 2023Looking forward to reading more. Great article post.Really thank you! Really Great.
Potulski
3 Eylül 2023Very informative article post.Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged.
Musco
3 Eylül 2023Im obliged for the blog.Thanks Again. Cool.
Huskey
4 Eylül 2023Thanks for the post. Cool.
Roessler
15 Eylül 2023Very informative post.Really thank you! Really Cool.
von
22 Eylül 2023I am sure this paragraph has touched all the internet visitors, its really really good post on building up new web site.
betting
2 Kasım 2023Itѕ great that you are getting ideas from thjis article aѕ werllas from our discussion made at this place.Also visit my blog … gboslot
Devaughan
22 Kasım 2023Major thanks for the post. Cool.
Szewc
26 Kasım 2023I appreciate you sharing this blog article. Cool.
Musco
29 Kasım 2023Major thankies for the blog. Cool.
Fischels
30 Kasım 2023A big thank you for your blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Great.
bret
30 Kasım 2023Muchos Gracias for your blog article.Really looking forward to read more.
Sadhra
30 Kasım 2023Im grateful for the article.Really thank you! Really Cool.
ashton
1 Aralık 2023Thanks for your marvelous posting! I definitely enjoyed reading it, you may be a great author.I will alwaysbookmark your blog and may come back later in life.I want to encourage you to continue your great job, have a nice day!
bethany
1 Aralık 2023A tree care service will help to get this handled.
Flamino
1 Aralık 2023I am so grateful for your article post.Much thanks again. Awesome.
Rideaux
31 Aralık 2023A big thank you for your blog post.Really thank you! Want more.
Weagle
29 Şubat 2024I really like and appreciate your article post.Thanks Again. Will read on…
kristy
1 Mart 2024Hey there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my previous room mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this write-up to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!